BARBER DNA Surname Project- Background

Administrators

Surnames

Barber, Barbor, Barbour

Background

Research has so far uncovered at least 4 main Barber lines in America of European designation and 2 of African designation (which will not result in a match with any men with that surname);
1) Thomas Barber born in England who came to the Connecticut colony as a carpenter in 1635.
2) Moses Barber born in the Rhode Island colony in 1652, Son of James Barber born in England, who came to the colony in approx. 1633.
3) William Barber, born in Drumcliffe Parish, County Sligo, Ireland in 1761. There were several prior generations in this area of northwestern Ireland. The earliest arrival was around 1656. He was a disbanded Cromwellian soldier according to the Schedule of Officers, claiming as soldiers under the Acts of Settlement and Explanation, MSS, Record Office, Kew, London. Descendants of this line can be found today in Ireland, England, Canada, US and Australia.
4) Francis Barber who came alone aboard the Plaine Jone in 1635 landing in Virginia Colony. Later settled in NJ and is possibly the source of NJ Barbers.
5)Theodore Barber, freed slave, from Essex, New York, b. ~1820.
6)One unidentified African line emanating out of Virginia.

This project will hopefully help Barber descendants identify their ancestry.

A surname itself may give us incomplete or misleading or, at best, only general information about the origin of a family, DNA-testing can give us concrete evidence for identifying and separating family lines. Y-chromosome DNA testing is especially helpful because the male Y-chromosome is handed down, father to son, unchanged through the generations, except for rare mutations which, in themselves, can be helpful indicators of branching. The accessibility and affordability of family DNA testing is doubtless the greatest technical advance in the history of genealogical research because -- at long, long last -- we have a tool to break down those brick walls!